


Home

by loewen_grube



Category: Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: Feeling at Home, Gen, Home, New room, look idk how to tag this, this was written when ppl are still speculating that maeve is a thief bc she's poor or sth idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:56:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14777105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loewen_grube/pseuds/loewen_grube
Summary: Maeve is given a new room.





	Home

The paperwork and requirements were surprisingly… there’s a whole lot of it.

Maeve took a whole while to get through all of the forms she needed to write, but eventually, she is able to finish them. The braided lady in-charge of getting her in looked bored, but she didn’t seem to mind her occasional prodding, and didn’t really comment much on how slow she was writing her name in the forms.

“Okay, welcome to the team.” The braided lady pulls a small handful of items from inside her furcoat and hands it to Maeve, taking great care none of them drops anything from it. There’s a couple badges for certain things, an ID, a pouch filled with crystals and gemstones, and keys with a crystal dangling off of it as a keychain–

_Keys?_

She waves the keys up, letting the braided lady see it. “What’s this for?”

“Your room,” she says, like it’s very obvious. “Third floor, first to the left. Very hard to miss. No balcony though, we save those for the ones who could fly.”

A pause, as Maeve processes everything. “… we all get rooms?”

“Yes…?” The lady sounded rather confused with the question, but she continues after a while, probably figuring out that explaining’s better. “Not all of us uses theirs, because they live outside the base. But you’re free to live in the base if you like, and you’re free to decorate it as you wish. It’s a bonus for being here.” 

The braided lady smiles, and pats Maeve on the shoulder as she leaves the lobby. “Have fun with your stay. You should go check it out before dinner.”

The speed Maeve ran to her room with is almost breakneck.

* * *

The door swings open just as she unlocks it. She could feel goosebumps on her skin, expecting another trash heap to live in. It’s common for people to give her “rooms” that are actually storage closets and trash heaps, or just small cots beside fireplaces and corners of inns. It’s not a surprise. She’s done it before. She won’t feel bad if the others gave her that side of the dorms–

However, the first thing she sees is a bed. 

White, with clean sheets and with a pile of towels and blankets on it, all folded neatly. She approaches slowly, closing the door behind her, and sits on the oversized sleeping space, testing out how comfortable it is. The foam is soft enough for her to sink down on it ever so slightly, and the blanket on it feels like she’s petting a soft, well-bathed puppy. 

Lying down feels just as comfortable. She does so, dropping her small bag of valuables to the floor as she tucks herself in.

She smiles, feeling tears well up her eyes, before remembering there’s more to the room than just the bed, and so she stands up and wriggles herself out of the comforter to look at the other features of her new home. She goes straight for the tall dresser, which she opens so fast the doors almost slammed back close. There’s a few plain shirts and pants folded in the corner, and a few basic items hung on the rack, all in varying shades of blue, white and black. 

 _Clothes._ Maeve comes closer to take a sniff. They smell like lavender-scented fabric conditioner. She takes off her coat and shirt and slips on a new one. It’s a bit loose, but it is already way better than her usual clothes that take almost two weeks before they see soap again. The smile on her face has grown, and she almost feel flowers blossoming inside her with how excited she is, almost skipping in excitement as she changes clothes completely to newer and fresher-smelling clothes, folding her coat and her other clothes back into a chair.

Actual pajamas. 

Maeve turns to look around more, and catches the sight of her reflection in a tall mirror right beside the dresser. Her smile goes bigger as she sees herself – it wasnot the most glamorous of clothes, but they were clean, and they smelled like rich people washed them for her.

She almost skips as she explores her space even more, and the more she goes around, the more she finds. Curtains with  _two layers._ A bathroom that doesn’t look like someone did an archaeological dig in it. Soap that no one else but her will use. Those rich people  _bath bombs. So many storage space._ A shelf for just about anything her heart feels like displaying. Pink bed sheets. More pillows than she can fit on the bed. Those fluffy bunny slippers.

 _Is this heaven?_ Maeve asks herself as she browses through the drawers, finding more and more clothes that aren’t really new but are still well-washed and smelled good, smiling as she sniffs another shirt with a different scent of fabric conditioner. She doesn’t mind having to wash her own clothes. She was rarely even able to wash herself most of the time.

She laughs as she puts on a second layer of clothes, and giggles as she takes her old dirty clothes and dumps them on the tiny bathtub, suddenly realizing she has no idea how to wash clothes in this setup.

That’s fine.

She can learn that one.

Maeve tucks herself under the comforters, closing all the lights as the afternoon sun strangely tints the room in a heavy oversaturated orange. It was a bit too early, since the braided lady mentioned something about dinner in a really specific time, so she didn’t want to retreat for the rest of the day. 

She tucks herself even further and looks around at her new room, and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. It will be her home for a long while… she will make sure of it. 

* * *

“How’s the room?” The braided lady was the one who greets her again as Maeve enters the dining hall, along with several other people. She knows none of them, but she’s fairly certain it’s the other people in the base, though it’s not everyone. The braided lady’s wearing something that makes it obvious that she’s in cooking duty, and she’s carrying around a pot of what seems like tonight’s dinner. It makes Maeve feel a little conscious that she went downstairs with two layers of pajamas, but she still feels happy as she waves hello to the lady.

Maeve smiles. “It’s  _amazing.”_ Her smile is almost from ear to ear. “I’ll go decorate tomorrow.”

“Good! I love your priorities.” The braided lady smiles at her, welcoming and warm, and Maeve feels like she’s at home just right now as she is served dinner.

It’s the first warm meal she’s had in  _months._


End file.
